TOIL Synonyms: 143 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the noun 'toil' contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of toil are drudgery , grind , labor , travail , and work . While all these words mean "activity involving effort or exertion," toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor. // his lot would be years of back-breaking toil

Q: When would 'drudgery' be a good substitute for 'toil'?

Although the words drudgery and toil have much in common, drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor. // an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery

Q: When might 'grind' be a better fit than 'toil'?

The words grind and toil can be used in similar contexts, but grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body. // the grind of the assembly line

Q: Where would 'labor' be a reasonable alternative to 'toil'?

The words labor and toil are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion. // farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor

Q: When could 'travail' be used to replace 'toil'?

While the synonyms travail and toil are close in meaning, travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering. // years of travail were lost when the house burned

Q: When is it sensible to use 'work' instead of 'toil'?

The meanings of work and toil largely overlap; however, work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force. // too tired to do any work

toil 1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈtȯi(-ə)l

Definition of toil

as in labor

very hard or unpleasant work after years of toil in a sweatshop, Kim was finally able to start her own dressmaking business

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

toil

2 of 3

noun (2)

as in tangle

usually toils plural something that catches and holds a married woman hopelessly caught in the toils of an extramarital affair

Synonyms & Similar Words

toil

3 of 3

verb

as in to labor

to devote serious and sustained effort toiled for many years on the mammoth outdoor sculpture

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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How does the noun toil contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of toil are drudgery, grind, labor, travail, and work. While all these words mean "activity involving effort or exertion," toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor.

his lot would be years of back-breaking toil

When would drudgery be a good substitute for toil?

Although the words drudgery and toil have much in common, drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor.

an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery

When might grind be a better fit than toil?

The words grind and toil can be used in similar contexts, but grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body.

the grind of the assembly line

Where would labor be a reasonable alternative to toil?

The words labor and toil are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion.

farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor

When could travail be used to replace toil?

While the synonyms travail and toil are close in meaning, travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering.

years of travail were lost when the house burned

When is it sensible to use work instead of toil?

The meanings of work and toil largely overlap; however, work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force.

too tired to do any work

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of toil

Noun

Extreme mountain climbing has never looked anything but miserable from the distance of a screening room, and The Other Side delivers mightily on all that scraping, straining, gasping toil. — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026 The poem is about how our most worthwhile pursuits—things like art, love, and beauty—often seem to demand a measure of toil. — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2026

Verb

Compared to a woman who spends her days toiling to defend some of America’s most underserved, Lee’s a man who wrote a puff piece about some rich, white dude. — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026 Raissa’s going to Caltech in America and leaving Jo, a wannabe artist who toils in fast food mascot jobs. — Mark Kennedy, Mercury News, 25 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for toil

Recent Examples of Synonyms for toil

Noun

Having been through the NBA and NFL lockouts of 2011 and other labor disputes, McKenzie recalled just how much of a rush there can be on supplementing income if paychecks don’t resume.

— Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 2 Nov. 2026
On the economic data side, the government releases its latest job openings and labor Turnover survey (JOLTS), as well as factory orders and durable goods orders.

— Jeff Marks,Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 2 Nov. 2026

Definition of labor

Noun

Despite the beery bonhomie and singalong-friendly simplicity of their tunes, the Twisted Teens are grappling with an increasingly complex tangle of contradictions and tensions.

— Stuart Berman, Pitchfork, 5 Nov. 2026
Both amyloid beta and tau are normally present in healthy brains; the plaques and tangles are abnormal aggregations of these molecules.

— Manvir Singh, New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2026

Definition of tangle

Noun

Additionally, the workers must hand over any communications — including self-deleting texts from apps such as Signal — related to the office’s efforts to block noncitizen voting.

— Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2026
The work is part of a broader effort to understand how eVTOL aircraft can share airspace and infrastructure with conventional aircraft while meeting aviation safety requirements.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 31 Oct. 2026

Definition of effort

Verb

Here’s the feckless poor, here’s the striving poor, here’s the oblivious cheerful poor, here’s the drug addict, here’s the drunk.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Nov. 2026
UConn Women’s Basketball is proud to play in our Basketball is for Everyone Pride game and strives for a culture of inclusion and equity.

— Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant, 2 Nov. 2026

Definition of strive

Noun

With Angel playing games, a wig probably would last maybe two or three days, because of sweat, oils and things like that, which doesn’t really work well with the glue.

— Leah Asmelash, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2026
Betr is giving you a chance to get in on those games with promo code FOXNEWS, giving you $200 in bonus bets and four sweat-free picks to use today.

— OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of sweat

Noun

Attackers first exploited an admin authentication bypass to gain access, then used a separate SQL injection flaw to steal credentials and finally leveraged two additional issues to achieve remote code execution and plant a persistent web shell.

— Rohit Dhamankar, Forbes.com, 30 Oct. 2026
There’s no e-mail, web browsing, or social media on these—only a Kindle-esque e-ink display that feels paperlike beneath your stylus.

— Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of web

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to hand

toil

toiled

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“Toil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toil. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of toil

noun (1)

noun (2)

verb

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